Ed over me. DId Ed say anything to you?" "I knew they had some kind of an argument. I didn't know what about," said Mary. "I t was over me. 'Tince told Ed that what I dId was Harry's husiness, not Ed's business or Paul's business or anybod} else's. Vince, you know Vince, he's a holy terror. He'd have an argu- ment with the Pope if he felt like it. You ought to hear him on the subject of Harry. 'That lunkhead,' he calls him. He hates cops, and I thInk he hates priests. He'll say anything in front of Paul, just to shock hIm. He goes too far some- times. Vince doesn't real- ize that Paul never had a 1 " c 1ance. "I never thought of it that way, but I guess it's true. To me Paul is just a big fat nothing." "They all are. And if we lived in Center Moriches, Mom would have Harry, because don't think Vince is all that independent, because he's not. Mom still holds on to the purse strings, and Vince isn't a very good businessman. He owes Mom over four thousand dollars. And if we lived there she'd figure some way to have Harry obligated to her. .Ll\nd he'd go for it. Sometimes I think Harry's more like one of my own brothers." .....( . . 25 ... .... < r - -- -"'X :':"'" -!: " /' - , ,..". " ,:,V'. ' I ' , ' * ' . , . ,: ',"'Í.';" I .. .... LV' . " :,. t " ."l '{;"1:" . . . '. "'f J -,-" i L t ",: <, ;.-0.," ,. ,,', t... " $- . ..' ./ -.I' ._' : .O IW "Guess what the wife had the gall to serve me for dinner last night." T HEY got out of the car and en- tered Norma's house, their foot- steps starting small echoes on the now bare floors. Norma offered her sister- in -la\v a cigarette, lit it, and lit her own. She rested one arm across her waIst, giving support to the elbow of the other arm, and holding her cigarette high in the air. She contemplated her next move. "I could do the rest of it myself," she said. "But I'm glad to have your company. I was just think- ing, I lived in this house over fifteen years, the only house I ever lived in since I was married. You'd think I'd have some pangs about moving, but I don't. The children don't, eIther. Harry's the only one that tried to get sentImental about it. God! It's a good thIng these walls can't talk." "I'll say," saId Mary. "I didn't mean you, Mary. I was just thinking about myself." "0 h, I know." . "The closest I ever came to getting caught, it wasn't Harry. It was mr brother Vince. This friend of mine just left by the kitchen door, and two mIn- utes later Vince barged in the front way. He had made quite a load on his way home from the harness races, and suddenly decided to pay a call on his siste r. " "Why do you take such chances?" "Whv do you?" "Yeah, I guess you're right, but I don't have an} children, and Ed isn't liable to kill me. Harry would kill you, Norma." "Maybe, if he caught me. But did you ever stop to think of how many times I thought of killing him? He comes home at five or six o'clock in the morning when he's on night duty. He takes off his uniform and hangs up his gun belt in the closet, and gets into bed with me. The usual thing, then rolls over and goes to sleep, and it's time for me to get up and get the kIds' break- fast. How many times, I wonder, have I looked at that gun and thought, You lunkhead, what do you think I am? Some kind of a cow? No considera- tion, nothing nice about it. Wakes me up out of a sound sleep just so I can be some kind of a cow If that's all there . is to it for him, it isn't enough for me. a h, I'd never shoot him, but if he knew how many tImes I thought about it, he wouldn't bnng his gun home." "Ed is always looking at pictures of guns. " "Oh, I know He always did. He even asked Harry-maybe I shouldn't tell you this. But I will. He asked Harry one time last winter how to go about buying a gun. It's against the law in this state. A revolver. Harry told him it was practically impossible in N ew York. Possession 1S illegal without a license, and you had to go through a lot of red tape to get a license." "I'm not afraid of Ed." "No, I wouldn't think you would be. But I'll bet there'd be times when you'd be afraid of yourself if you had . h h " a gun In t e ouse. Mary stood in the middle of the emptiness, not thinking of what Norma was saying. "You lived here fifteen years," she said. "I remember when you papered this room. I guess the people that bought the house, the first thing she'll want to do is repaper . " It. "I wouldn't blame her. I was he- ginning to get sick of it," said Norma. "And then there won't be anything